Posted on June 18, 2015
By Our Correspondent
Headline, Politics, Thailand
For the second time this month, Thailand’s junta has shut down a planned discussion at the Foreign Correspondents Club Thailand’s facilities – but is demonstrating a bizarre concern over its international image. It ended up getting embarrassed anyhow. The club, considered the oldest and most prestigious in Southeast Asia, was supposed to host a discussion…
Posted on June 9, 2015
By Asia Sentinel
Headline, Politics, Thailand
The Thai political crisis has only deepened following the May 2014 coup. The military claimed it was saving Thailand from slipping into a new round of political violence after months of anti-Yingluck Shinawatra protests. But, in reality it sought to take control over politics in the twilight of King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s almost 70-year reign. For…
Posted on May 31, 2015
By Our Correspondent
Headline, Politics, Thailand
Thailand’s ailing king Bhumibol Adulyadej was quietly transferred by helicopter on Sunday, May 31, from his summer palace in Hua Hin, 200 km south of Bangkok, to Siriraj Hospital where he has spent much of the last decade, sources said. There has been no public announcement of the ailing, 87-year-old king’s condition. He and his…
Posted on April 20, 2015
By Our Correspondent
Headline, Politics, Thailand
The portions of Thailand’s new written constitution that are emerging on the Internet in English present a charter designed to make sure that any election, should there be one anytime soon, will be strictly controlled by the military and the royalty in Bangkok, and that the franchise will effectively be denied to many voters. What…
Posted on April 17, 2015
By Our Correspondent
Headline, Politics, Thailand
The authoritarian posture of Thailand’s military regime led by General-turned-Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha is obvious enough, going further than its numerous predecessors in muzzling the media and suppressing opponents. The military and police are also more in daily evidence. Yet it is still just a thin and potentially brittle crust over a society that is factionalized…
Posted on April 7, 2015
By Our Correspondent
Headline, Politics, Thailand
Thailand’s government leaders, believing they can convince foreign diplomats of the attractiveness of its replacement of martial law with seemingly even more restrictive provisions, says they will seek to explain the measure to them. Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam told local reporters Sunday that he would be involved personally in briefing the foreign legations and…
Posted on April 1, 2015
By Our Correspondent
Headline, Politics, Thailand
If anybody thought Thai coup leader Prayuth Chan-ocha’s announcement that he will lift martial law in the country means he intends to lighten up, they are wrong. He intends to replace martial law with one that maintains the military’s powers and, critics say, even expands them. The lockdown of the country is already so severe…
Posted on March 9, 2015
By Our Correspondent
Headline, Politics, Thailand
The peace and order supposedly guaranteed by Thai Army Chief-cum-Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha is increasing danger of coming to an end, with two small bomb blasts in Bangkok in recent weeks. The latest occurred Saturday night with a grenade attack on the Criminal Court, which did little damage and left no injuries. Twin pipe bombs…
Posted on February 13, 2015
By Asia Sentinel
Headline, Politics, Thailand
The impeachment of former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra signals a troubling new phase in Thailand’s political stalemate. After two weeks of rushed hearings before a military-appointed legislature, the National Assembly on January 23 voted 190-18 to impeach the deposed Yingluck. This time, however, the royalist elite, represented by the Yellow Shirts – the People’s Alliance for Democracy…
Posted on February 4, 2015
By Our Correspondent
Headline, Malaysia, Politics, Thailand
The New York-based Human Rights Watch is accusing Thailand’s junta of gutting an already weak National Human Rights Commission by combining it with the country’s ombudsman’s office. In truth, the Commission has never been very effective. It has been filled with members selected by non-democratic institutions and cowed by a long succession of military governments…
